Name missing in poll roll? Act now

OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

If your name doesn’t figure in the voters’ list, now is the time to get cracking.

For, the election commission will be holding a special summary revision of electoral rolls for four days in two phases across the state on June 21 & 22 and June 28 & 29 in the run up to the Assembly elections.

Draft electoral rolls would be published from June 9 to enable citizens to check if their names and other details are correct.

In the Ranchi municipal area, the first phase of the revision may be held on June 14-15 as the mayoral election for the state capital is scheduled on June 23 and government officials would be preoccupied on June 21-22, the dates specified by the Election Commission of India for revision of electoral rolls in Jharkhand, Haryana and Maharashtra which would go to polls by the end of the year.

The period of claims and objections for inclusion, deletion, change of name and other details would be between June 9 to 30.

Special campaigns would be held on June 21-22 and June 28-29 when BLOs would be present at their respective booths.

“For RMC jurisdiction area, we are thinking of changing the dates to June 14-15 due to the mayoral polls,” he added.

Disposal of claims and objections are expected to be completed by July 15, while updation of the database would take place by July 25.

Final publication of the revised electoral roll would take place on July 31.

Jajoria, accompanied by additional chief electoral officers K.K. Soan and Himani Pandey, said the election commission was trying to improve the voting percentage in the forthcoming Assembly polls _ it was xx in the Lok Sabha polls _ through mass awareness campaigns.

“We are targeting voters between 18 and 19, primitive tribal groups, nomads, rickshaw-pullers and others who are generally left out in such exercises. In each booth, around 200 Form-6 (for inclusion of names) would be available. We request voters to participate in the exercise. There may be lacunae in part of both (voters and the government machinery), but the ultimate aim is to make use of constitutional rights,” Jajoria explained.

The office of the chief electoral officer has already written to all deputy commissioners and district election officers to activate BLOs and electoral registration officers (EROs). A meeting may also be called with all political parties at different levels on June 9 to ensure participation at their level.

Soan said the poll panel had also written to vice-chancellors of different universities to ensure more participation from youths by creating awareness about the importance of voting, thereby asking students to make the effort of enrolling themselves in the voters’ list.

To make this easier, existing electoral rolls are also available on the website of chief electoral officer.